News
Posted by Rick Romano on May 13, 2012.
After our spring break groups left in April we knew that we needed to find a place for the groups to eat and hang out. It was very hard to eat meals & have meetings outside under the torrential downpours. We felt pretty strong about a building close to our house. We finally made a connection with the realtor and moved in three weeks ago. Since then, our team has been hard at work painting, cleaning, building walls and moving everything into the open space. There are just a few more little details to do for it to be ready for our next group, they arrive on May 21st. God supplied us with a perfect place, we are grateful for His provision and direction.
One of the visions we have had for the heart of Santiago was to open an ENvision Café reaching young people in the city for Christ. Adjoining the dining hall is another space for rent, perfect place to open the café; we ask that you would come alongside us as we are praying for God’s direction and financial resources to make this happen.
Last weekend we went to Loma de Cabrara, minutes from the Haiti border. We met an Alliance Puerto Rican pastor, Joseph Grover and his family, who has been serving there for three and half years. The area is very poor, they have problems with no electricity and no water (I thought we had it bad in Santiago!). We will be returning with a group or two to help build an Alliance Church and share God’s love, huge opportunity for our groups to minister alongside the church in Loma!
We are so very grateful for our faithful prayer supporters. Thank you for lifting us up, I know that because of your prayers we would not be able to do what do. We praise God that we have been able to help put money toward purchasing a bus with the National Church. And we praise God for the building we have!
Please Pray For:
* Churches to partner with us here in Santiago;
* Teams to work alongside the National Church
* Building Alliance Churches
* To help us with the rent cost, it is not covered through group fees
* Partner with us and the ENvision Café
* For our teams that are planning on coming, that they would be able to find cheap airfare
* Safety as we travel
* Continue building a strong relationship with the National Church
* Wisdom walking alongside the National Church
* God will use us and our partner churches to expand God’s Kingdom and be a blessing to the National Church.
Posted by Rick Romano on April 18, 2012.
After having a year off from hosting groups, Rick and I were excited to finally be doing what we love to do. Over the last two weeks Neighborhood Church from Redding, California and Newark, California came to Santiago and served alongside us. I am not going to lie, we were nervous starting a new site.
Again, we started with nothing and have to build a site, we could not have done it without help from our National friends. We ran into snag with weather, because we had to make a temporary kitchen and dining hall in our neighbor’s backyard with tarps overhead. When the torrential downpours came, our poor cook got soaked, and we had to be creative where we stood so we didn’t get wet. Though that was probably the hardest part of our two weeks, and mostly on our ENvision team trying to make it work.
God worked through each of the people who came to serve, it wasn’t easy, and it was a lot of hard work. We continue to learn that our agenda is not always God’s agenda; we’re a little thick. I am amazed that through hot and humid days our groups gave of themselves without complaining and got a lot done.
Even though it was a lot of digging, passing buckets of cement, mixing cement and even getting water from a nearby creek. It just wasn’t physical building, but we built relationships within the two communities we were serving in.
Through a couple of days each week we invited youth to come and play volleyball and whiffle 
baseball, it was a great way to play together, also sharing God’s love with them through testimonies. Two days each week we walked alongside a ministry with children.
Rick and I are very grateful for our ENvision team (David and Aleah Nishizaki, Taylor Fennen and Jennifer Wilt) who God has uniquely put us together.
Praise
- We have enough money to help purchase the bus. Thank you for praying as we received two large donations.
- Both weeks of groups were a blessing to the communities they worked in.
Prayer
- We need to rent a large enough place to feed the groups. We are looking at a building close to where we live. It would also be a great location for the ENvision Café. Pray that if this where God wants us to be that everything will come together, including the needed funds to rent it.
- Continue to build relationships with the pastors in the Northern District.
Posted by Rick Romano on March 26, 2012.
Romano Update
Over the last few weeks we have been studying Spanish two days a week at a Language Institute, and three days with a tutor. Our tutor is our professor at the Institute; we have had the opportunity to use our time with him to share who we are and why we are in the Dominican. Professor Robinson has
spent a lot of time teaching us about the culture of Santiago, we have enjoyed getting to know the area we are ministering in. We have also had some time to get to know a few of the pastors we will be working with, we have been welcomed in with open arms. They are so grateful for our help and willingness to walk alongside their churches!
Praising God: As we have been preparing for a couple of spring break groups we asked the local pastors what they would like our groups to do? They are grateful for anything, as we through different ideas out to them; they humbly smiled and said yes we would love that activity. Our team had the privilege of going to a combined church service in one of the Camps; 5 of the Alliance Churches meet together once a month for a 5 hour service and share a meal together. We have been blown away at God’s greatness of supplying all our needs.
We have been asked by the National Church to raise some funds for a bus. We have a couple of large gifts to help us partner with the National church in purchasing the bus. Their goal is to have the bus by May; we are short by a couple of thousand. God supplied a doctor who helped our daughter, Rebekah, who has had a hard time with the transitions over the past year. Because of the stress, her body was struggling to produce hair.
We were so grateful to find a doctor that knew what to do and showed understanding to her to help her get through this. Grateful for youth in the youth group who have reached out to Jon and Becka welcoming them.
Prayer needs:
- Unity between the National workers and groups while constructing the school.
- Rick has been meeting with a job forum, but need to lay out some plans for the first 2 groups.
- Outreach to youth in the community of Los Cocos, we are planning a volleyball outreach. Three day outreach with children, God’s light will shine through every one who will be ministering to the children.
- That we would be able to find the funds needed to purchase the bus.
Posted by Rick Romano on February 26, 2012.
We have lived in Santiago, Dominican Republic for a month now. Our family is feeling at home, loving the people and the culture. Jon and Becka went to their first youth group last night in our new church, El Ensueno. We have enjoyed many meals with different pastors getting to know them, and enjoying the Dominican food. Jon and Becka have made friends with the National C&MA Presidents kids (family Spanish, and have surprised us in what they know.
After having a month to settle in, went to field forum, Envision conference in LA, and have friends come and visit for three weeks; and now we are ready to get to work. This week we will be starting Spanish classes at a local language school and in addition, three days a week we will be having a private tutor teach us.
Please pray for us as we will be studying hard to continue our Spanish studies.
Thank you for praying for unity between the field and ENvision. We are grateful for the C&MA field that has gone out of their way to make us feel comfortable here in the Dominican Republic. Couple of days ago, Brad Wood(C&MA missionary in the DR) spent the day hooking us up with a Christian mechanic, pulling strings to get our US checks authorized at a local bank so that we can easily cash checks. I am sure they would never have authorized us to cash checks without his help. We have felt welcomed and part of the team here in the Dominican.
We have had a couple of meeting with the National Church, they are very grateful that the Alliance has sent missionaries up in the northern region to walk alongside the churches. We have quickly realized there is a lot of work to be done. Please continue to pray for us, that we would have wisdom as we seek out what God has ahead for us. Pray for the National Church, field and Envision that we would continue to have strong relations. We are excited and grateful that God has chosen us to be His servants here.
Also pray because the National Church would like to purchase a bus. They have offered it for our teams to use. However, they are short $10,000. Pray with us as we try to find resources to come alongside the National Church. It would be a huge blessing for the National Church and for us.
Posted by Rick Romano on January 22, 2012.
As my parents dropped us off at the Portland Airport, with all of our bags I became overwhelmed with what God was beginning to do in and through our family. I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous. God is amazing; He took care of every little detail. I stood in amazement as the attendant behind the United Airlines counter told us we only had to only pay for four of our twelve bags. Arriving in Santo Domingo with all of our bags, I wondered how we would get them all through customs; and again God took care of every little detail. Two Dominican men grabbed and piled (literally piled) them on a dolly and brought them through customs with us and to the cars.
We have felt welcomed and loved by the C&MA team here in the Dominican. We have had the privilege of staying at the guest house, being pampered with three meals and beds to sleep in. The first two days we spent trying to find a car, this has been frustrating, but as I pray for God’s leading I have a peace that He knows what is best for us. Yesterday, we went to Santiago to look for houses. The first house we looked, I have to admit needs a lot of tender loving care, but we took it. PTL the house has an apartment out back, where we could house our interns. I was overwhelmed with a peace that only God could have filled in my heart. This will be home and where ministry will take place.
Please continue to pray for wisdom as we have to stretch our dollars and buy all the appliances and furniture. Pray that God would bring us the perfect car for our family and ministry. Pray for our kids, they are still adjusting. Thank you for praying for our family, we are grateful for your faithful support.
A side note; for those of you who know our son Jon, he has already picked a baseball team in Santiago to follow.
Posted by Rick Romano on January 12, 2012.
This week has been a week of preparing and reflecting. Reflecting on what is really important to us. When we went to Mexico we had the privilege of bringing whatever we wanted, because we could just drive it across the border. As we are packing our suitcases with as much as we can (under 50lbs), I keep asking myself do I really need this. I am reminded daily that God will take care of ALL our needs.
Reflecting on the day we showed up in Ensenada to our first house, we rented site unseen. Walking through the door and seeing only pipes in the wall where a kitchen should be. Of the six windows, three of them were broken. No doors on any of the bedrooms. After the second night in the house the owner came by and asked Rick if he was ready to work, Rick was confused, but soon realized he needed to help move buckets of tar onto the roof to repair it. Through God’s amazing grace, He took care of all of our needs, that house became our home. I remember that helpless feeling, and am confident that we will be hit with some road blocks along the way. I am thankful that I can put my trust in God who has faithfully taken care of our family. Yes, I wake up some mornings with anxiety of the unknown. However, there is a side of me that can’t wait to see how God will put everything together in His time and in His perfect way.
God has blessed us with supplying our financial needs; He has blessed us with a couple, David and Aleah Nishizaki, who are stepping out in faith and serving alongside us. We are excited to see how God is going to use us in Santiago, together we are laying our lives out there willing to GO and DO what God has for us.
Isaiah 55:8&9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Posted by Rick Romano on December 7, 2011.
Since June 1st our family has learned what it is to be in transition. We left Ensenada where our home and friends were for six years. Our kids really struggled with leaving what they knew was home. We have been on this journey as a family, saying goodbye, and learning to let go of a ministry we loved with open hands. In the summer, Rebekah was really struggling with the question where are you from? She didn’t know where she was from anymore. I encouraged her to take the opportunity God had given us not to miss out on what He has for our family. Even though we have been living out of suitcases, God brings people and experiences into our lives to mold us into who He wants us to be. When we said to God that we would go and be obedient to His call on our lives, as difficult as it as times, I understand that God has a much greater plan. We have been through two transitions since June; summer with our families
, and a move to New Jersey for home assignment. Transitions are not always an easy place to be, however, God has blessed us every step of the way. In six weeks we will make our final transition to the Dominican Republic. As we look back on this journey, we know that God has used this time of transitions for refining us for His greater purpose.
Posted by Rick Romano on September 6, 2011.
This is our first blog on our new Santiago Experience site. We’re still working on switching everything over, so bare with us as we make the transition.
